


think you should come home

by smallblueandloud



Series: and it's golden (sense8 au of the west wing) [2]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sense8 (TV) Fusion, Brief Kidfic, Episode: s07e05 Here Today, Essbie's 2020 Fic Posting Extravaganza, Gen, The Stupidly Noble Cluster, Worldbuilding, andy is F U R I O U S, look i just. i love all of them so much., molly and huck are in one scene. do with that what you will., rip cj who is very sleep deprived and stressed, toby is being.... toby. you know what he's like., will is very worried about his cluster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:00:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22366801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallblueandloud/pseuds/smallblueandloud
Summary: “Hi, asshole,” she says, without turning around. Toby’s still at the door, so she can’t see his face - in any sense, which is a new experience for her. Years and years ago, back when their cluster was just them and a whole lot of empty space, they’d made a deal to never be on blockers while they were with each other in person. They haven’t broken it until today, but somehow she’s fine with that.“That’s it?” he says. Andy imagines that he’s probably spreading his hands, as if to saywhat am I supposed to do with this woman,the way he always does. Half the time, it’s cute - and the other half of the time, it makes her want to snap his fingers off.(or, toby commits treason. various conversations occur.)
Relationships: Andrea Wyatt & Will Bailey, Andrea Wyatt/Toby Ziegler, C. J. Cregg & Toby Ziegler, C. J. Cregg & Will Bailey, C. J. Cregg/Andrea Wyatt, Will Bailey & Toby Ziegler
Series: and it's golden (sense8 au of the west wing) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1607011
Comments: 19
Kudos: 16





	think you should come home

**Author's Note:**

> time for lots more worldbuilding! also a lot of emotions about some of my favorite characters in this show.
> 
> i've changed some of sense8's rules for this world, so here's how this works:  
> \- everyone in this world has a "cluster", which are groups of people (of any size) that they're telepathically connected to. i haven't touched on the potential of this much, but clusters can share abilities and memories.  
> \- you bond with someone in your cluster with eye contact while not on blockers (which are drugs that suppress telepathy). you can... tell if your cluster isn't complete? it's a nebulous concept but people just _know_. (toby and andy bonded first, and then they met cj, and then will came along a whole heckuva long time later)  
> \- unlike in the show, you can't connect in any way to anyone who isn't in your cluster! also, everyone's a sensate for worldbuilding purposes, lol.
> 
> if you haven't seen sense8, you absolutely should. it's a fantastic show (tw for drug use, gun use, and sex? lots of sex. it's amazing, i promise.) and available on netflix!
> 
> anyways. hope y'all enjoy! title is from _miss americana and the heartbreak prince_ by taylor swift, from her album _lover_. i feel like cj&toby (and really, toby's relationship with everyone) are the odd mix of melancholy and hope in that song. i love him, okay?

“CJ,” says Toby, as she moves around the room. She sets the champagne bottle down on her desk and sits in the only empty chair.

“Let’s toast to my imminent imprisonment,” she says, looking around for a bottle opener.

“CJ,” says Toby. She frowns, standing up. They’ve been having this conversation on and off for several days now, and she’s familiar with his talking points by now. “I know, I know. You want me to get a lawyer.”

“ _I_ got a lawyer,” he says, and she looks up from the drawer she’s rifling through to glance at his face. “Why? It’s not like you-”

Before she finishes the sentence, he fishes a blocker out of his pocket and swallows it dry. It _feels_ very wrong, even though she’s on blockers herself.

CJ is suddenly very, very uninterested in bottle openers.

“About the leak-” he says, as he sets his hands on the table, wrists facing in, like he’s ready to be handcuffed. It only makes the feeling of _wrongness_ worse.

His hands are shaking.

“I did it,” he says, and her life turns upside down.

* * *

“That’s as far as I got before his attorney intervened,” finishes Babish, setting down his legal pad.

CJ sighs, glancing out the window. It’s dark outside. She always hopes that she’ll get home before dark, one of these days, but it never seems to work out.

“Do you think you got the whole story?”

Babish shrugs, looking disinterested. CJ knows better. She’s been through enough questionings with him to know when he’s trying to get information from her.

“Toby mentioned he discussed the military shuttle with you.”

“Yes,” says CJ, looking up at the clock. 8:27 pm.

“Did you direct him to leak the information?”

“I did not.”

“Urge it?”

“No.”

He drops the pretense of innocent curiosity, leaning forward. “Subtly hint? Or imply in any other way?”

“Absolutely not,” says CJ.

Babish shrugs again. “Worth a try.”

The clock ticks forward. 8:28.

“Do you know who’s in his cluster?”

CJ stops mid breath, then exhales slowly. The question is a surprise - and yet, it really isn’t.

“You know that clusters can’t be used in legal investigations,” she says. It’s a warning. It’s also an admission, or at least, the first step towards one. “You can’t compel someone to name their clustermates, even under oath. You can’t use their testimony or say their names in the capacity of clustermates during a trial.”

“I know,” says Babish, and she knows that he knows. They keep staring at each other. “But if you know if he was acting on their-”

“He took blockers,” says CJ. “That’s what I know. He took blockers, that day.”

“He doesn’t usually?”

Babish is no fool. He knows that he can’t use this to help the investigation at all, and he knows that CJ knows that. But he’s going to figure out what happened anyway, because he’s a lawyer, and that’s what they do.

“No,” says CJ. “ _I’m_ always on them. I wasn't before, but chief of staff needs to be unattached - invulnerable to spies, and all.”

“Yeah,” says Babish. He’s put down his pen, and for all intents and purposes, this looks like a regular conversation between friends. “But you’re not taking one now.”

The 8:29 chime goes off. Perfect timing.

Since so many people take blockers - especially government employees - most workplaces have some kind of system in place to remind them. Standard blockers run on three- or six-hour schedules, so offices have chimes that go off every three hours, to remind people.

CJ’s last for three hours each. Even though it takes more effort to stay off the grid, she wants to be able to connect more quickly, in case of an emergency.

Like today.

“I’m not,” she agrees, letting the chime pass. “Neither are you.”

“My brother takes his at six hour intervals,” says Babish. “All of us do.”

“That’s nice,” says CJ, picking up a pen and absently running it across the page in front of her. Any minute now-

“Is there a reason why you’re not taking one now?”

CJ sets the pen down, shrugging. She’s still looking at the table. “He took his right before he told me. I want to let our- I don’t want them to find out from the tv.”

“Yeah,” agrees Babish. “Smart. How do you know he took a blocker the day that he leaked it?”

“A- One of us told me, that night. She had noticed it, but she didn’t think much of it. Neither did I.”

In the corner of her eye, CJ sees Andy appear, seated on the couch on the other side of the room. She coughs.

“Oh, are they here?” says Babish. “Don’t mind me. I’ll stick around.”

CJ frowns. She knows just as well as he does that it’s a minor felony for her to be on the clock without blockers. And his supervision makes it... slightly less illegal, or at least makes it look a little less suspicious. That doesn’t mean she has to like it, though.

CJ steps into the psycellium, walking up to Andy.

As her life gets more stressful, she finds herself appreciating psychic space more and more: a place immune to bugs and spies, where it’s only her and the people she trusts most in the world.

( _Well,_ she amends, _maybe not anymore.)_

“You busy?” asks Andy, looking up to smile at her. She’s flipping through papers at her dining room table at home. CJ can hear Huck and Molly playing in their room.

“Yeah,” says CJ. “No. Not for you.”

“Good,” says Andy, stretching her face up. CJ kisses her, obligingly, then glances over at her papers. “Is this anything important?”

“No,” says Andy, pushing them away. “You’re not usually off blockers this early. Good day?”

“No,” says CJ, sitting down. “Do you know if Will’s dropping by?”

“If I’m what?” says Will, walking in, out of nothingness. He squeezes CJ’s shoulder and smoothes out Andy’s hair absentmindedly as he passes each of them, sitting down at the only other chair. “What’s up? Why are you off blockers this early? Is Toby busy?”

“That’s... what I have to tell you about,” says CJ, taking a deep breath. She clasps her hands in front of her. “About an hour ago, Toby came into my office to tell me-” She hesitates. “He said- Toby’s the leaker.”

Will stares at her. Andy frowns. “The-”

“The classified military shuttle leaker, yes. The one that everyone thought was me.”

“CJ,” says Babish, from her office. CJ blinks and is staring at him, sitting in her desk chair. Andy’s still in her dining room, frowning, but Will is standing behind Babish.

She glances up to meet his eye, and he nods. He knows enough to stay quiet, especially when she’s supposed to be blocking him to prevent this exact situation. He doesn’t have anywhere _near_ the clearance to hear the sort of talk that would require a late-night meeting with White House counsel, but she’s glad he’s with her.

“CJ,” repeats Babish, with rare gentleness. She supposes she needs it, with a clustermate who has just confessed to treason, but it still feels alien. “It’s time to tell the President.”

She stands. “What will be the recommendation of the counsel’s office?”

“The same as yours,” says Babish. “Who will you hire to replace the White House press secretary?”

“We can’t have a new face,” says CJ. “But I can’t exactly promote anyone who was working close to Toby, either. I’m thinking Will Bailey, from the Vice President’s office.”

Will scowls at her. CJ resists the urge to stick her tongue out at him. She is an _adult,_ goddamnit.

“Alright,” says Babish, and stands as well. He glares at her desk until she takes the hint and opens her drawer. Without breaking eye contact, she fishes out a blocker and swallows it with the champagne she’d opened after Toby left, daring him to comment. He doesn’t, just turns towards the door. “Let’s go.”

* * *

“CJ,” says Will. It’s 4 am, the night after day three of the worst job he’s ever had in his life, and he can’t sleep.

“CJ,” he says again.

He’s in bed in his apartment. Somewhere to his left, in her own apartment, Andy tosses and turns, but she’s still _asleep._ Will doesn’t want to wake her up - she’s had a hard enough time as it is, with the kids and the reporters and the worrying. But CJ isn’t in bed, so he doesn’t have to be concerned about waking her up.

Should she be asleep? Probably. But it’s not like he’s complaining.

“CJ.”

Nothing. He sighs.

“Ceej.” He stretches the sound out just to annoy her.

“ _What,_ Will?” says CJ. She’s sitting on the side of his bed, suddenly, and even though the only light is from the window he knows every detail of her clothing like he’s the one wearing it. She’s not even in pajamas, for goodness’ sake. He tells her so.

“Some of us actually have jobs to do,” she says, stifling a yawn.

“Some of us understand the importance of getting a good night’s sleep,” counters Will. “You look awful.”

“Thanks,” she says, making a face. “Is this what you wanted me here for?”

“No,” he says. “Well, sort of. I just wanted to see you. You’ve kind of been ignoring me for the past few days, _boss.”_

“Forgive me for being paranoid,” says CJ, but she doesn’t sound like she can keep doing this for much longer either. “And- and what’s that other word? Over- over-?”

“Overworked,” says Will. “You need to get some rest.”

“Tell me about it,” says CJ, stifling another yawn. Will sits up and maneuvers himself to be next to her, on the side of the bed. Even though she’s taller than him, she’s able to rest her head on his shoulder.

Will knows he’s the new guy, in every sense of the word. He joined the White House just in time for their second inauguration, when everyone had already known each other for five years. He bonded with his cluster around the same time, when the others had already known each other for seven, eight years. He has trouble, sometimes, figuring out where he’s supposed to fit.

Then again: Toby’s an asshole, Andy’s changing the world, and CJ’s barely surviving every day. Maybe it’s his job to take care of all of them. And maybe let them deal with something easy, for a change.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he says.

CJ smiles. He can’t see her do it, but he knows. “You’re doing fine.”

“I never answer any of their questions,” he says.

“You have two bosses,” she says. “The American people, and the American president. You have no obligation to reporters.”

“Oh?” says Will. “Are they not people?”

“No,” says CJ, laughing slightly. Then she sobers. “Well.”

“No exceptions,” says Will. He’s still smiling.

“Not even Greg Brock?”

His smile fades, too. Brock - the reporter who’d gone to jail for refusing to give Toby up.

“Yeah, okay,” says Will. “He gets a pass.”

They sit there in silence for a minute. Will thinks about Toby, and wonders where he is. He’s been on blockers since he confessed to CJ - and since they aren’t allowed to see him or call him until the investigation ends, Will hasn’t heard hide nor hair of him since he was escorted out of the White House through the normal channels, either.

It’s fine, though. It’s not like Toby wasn’t avoiding him before that, anyway.

“You two are thinking too loud.”

Andy’s voice is quiet, and saturated with sleep. Will blinks, looking around at Andy’s bedroom on the other side of DC, and at Andy, who’s yawning up at them from the nest of blankets she always uses.

“Yeah,” says CJ.

“Come to sleep,” says Andy, holding out a hand. CJ takes it, allowing herself to be drawn down next to Andy, who rests her head on her chest and falls back asleep almost immediately.

CJ doesn’t. Instead, she looks up at Will, reaching out and pulling his shoulder. He comes down without a fight, lying down on Andy’s other side. They face each other, curled like a pair of parentheses around Andy’s statement.

“It’s going to be okay,” she says, sounding like she’s convincing herself more than him.

“Yeah,” he says. “CJ, it’s going to be okay.”

“Okay,” she says, squeezing his shoulder. She holds his gaze for a long moment, and then he closes his eyes. He’s asleep within seconds.

* * *

Toby opens his front door pretty quickly after her knock, all things considered. She’s guessing it’s the utter lack of anything to do, after being fired by the leader of the free world.

“Andy-” he says, and she ignores him, walking inside and setting her burdens down on the dining room table. When she’s finished, she puts her hands palm down on the wood and takes a deep breath.

“Hello?” he says.

“Hi, asshole,” she says, without turning around. He’s still at the door, so she can’t see his face - in any sense, which is a new experience for her. Years and years ago, back when their cluster was just them and a whole lot of empty space, they’d made a deal to never be on blockers while they were with each other in person. They haven’t broken it until today, but somehow she’s fine with that.

“That’s it?” he says. She imagines that he’s probably spreading his hands, as if to say _what am I supposed to do with this woman,_ the way he always does. Half the time, it’s cute - and the other half of the time, it makes her want to snap his fingers off.

In the corner of her eye, she sees Will pop up for one of his usual check-ins, but he clears out as soon as he catches sight of where she is.

“Yeah,” she says, spinning around. “That’s it. I brought you groceries after you committed treason. No need to thank me or anything.”

“ _Thank_ you, Andy, mother of my children and woman who _only_ refused my proposals the _second_ time around,” says Toby. “What would I ever do without you.”

Andy shakes her head. Jesus _Christ,_ this man is going to kill her.

“That’s the issue with you,” she says. “When you get hurt, you lash out at anyone trying to help you.”

“You’re trying to _help_ me?” says Toby. He’s almost laughing, now, and Andy _hates_ the bitterness that comes over him in times like this. “Oh, yeah, this is helping. You come in here with _cereal_ and expect me to- what- to welcome you with open arms and a song and dance?”

“No, Toby,” says Andy, and the anger is so overpowering that she can’t stand upright. “I don’t. I don’t expect anything from you, not after you’ve been on blockers for _two weeks straight._ Do you have alarms every six hours at night, or do you just hope we’ll be asleep when yours wear off?”

“I-”

“No, Toby, I don’t expect anything better from you,” she says. “I don’t- CJ had to tell us. CJ had to stay off blockers - a minor felony for someone with her clearance, mind you, because this cluster doesn’t have enough legal trouble as it is - to tell us about your _idiodic_ plan of going down in a self-righteous blaze of glory, or whatever it was you thought you were doing! Don’t you think you could’ve given us a head’s up, at least? Don’t we mean more to you than that?”

Toby sits down, heavily. When he speaks, his voice is at normal volume. After her yelling, it sounds odd. It sounds like defeat.

“Why do people always think it's all about moral superiority with me?” he asks, looking up at her. “I don’t- I don’t think I’m better than anyone. I just-” He stops, and takes a deep breath. “After my brother-”

She sits down next to him. He’s looking down at his hands, and she feels the anger soften, even when she tries to keep it bright and overpowering.

She’d planned what she was going to say to him. Somehow, it had gone out the window when she’d seen him and the fury had boiled up again. It’s been two weeks, and she’d thought she was over this, but it seems like she’s still got a ways to go.

“Yeah,” she says, quietly.

He spreads his fingers. “I didn’t- I don’t want to say that I didn’t think about the consequences, because I did. I just thought- those astronauts deserve to _live,_ Andy.”

“Yeah,” she says again. “I know.”

It amazes her, sometimes, how well she knows this man, even when she wants to walk away and never speak to him again. She knows exactly what buttons to push, to make him feel sorry, to _watch_ him feel sorry. Most of them involve absent fathers and jail time and his children - it wouldn’t take her a minute to get through the worst of it. But she won’t, because she knows what it will feel like to watch him fall apart and know that it’s her fault.

“How are-” he clears his throat. “I’m sorry for vanishing. How are- how are the kids?”

It amazes her, too, how well this man knows her: they were thinking of the same thing. Sometimes she forgets how long it was only the two of them, before they met CJ.

“They’re good,” she says. “It would help if you visited.”

“That won’t look very good with the press, will it? You have a reelection campaign coming up.”

She hates that he’s right. But he is.

“It doesn’t have to be physically.”

He barks out a laugh, finally, and looks up. “You want me to visit my kids through an old wives’ tale?”

“You’ve seen it work,” she says. “Don’t dismiss something just because science doesn’t support it.”

“Right,” he says. It’s a familiar argument they’ve been having for the twin’s whole lives, but he lets it fall instead of saying his next line, which is usually something about the Earth being flat.

She looks up at the clock. She needs to get going pretty soon, and besides, Will is going to start briefing in a few moments, and she doesn’t want to be around Toby for that.

“Andy-” he says. “I’m sorry, you know. I don’t- I don’t think I regret it. Not yet, anyway-” and there’s the small, rueful laugh that she fell in love with in the first place, “-but I’m still sorry. It’s going to be hard, for you and for the kids, and it’s my fault, and I’m sorry.”

“Yeah,” she says, reaching out to cover his hands with her own. “I know. As long as you stick around, okay? We can do it as long as we stay together.”

“Okay,” says Toby, looking at her with the ghost of a smile on his face. She smiles back, slightly.

“ _All_ of us, Toby.”

He looks away from her.

“You need to talk to them,” she says, and stands up. “But I’m not going to force you to.”

“Thank you,” he says.

“I have a meeting on the hill,” she says. “I have to-”

“Yeah,” he says, standing too. He walks her to the door, helps her into her coat. “Thank you for coming. And for the groceries.”

“You’re welcome,” she says, turning back to him. She kisses him softly, then pulls back and looks at him. “I love you, Toby. You’re an idiot, but I love you.”

“Thanks,” he says, in his vaguely sarcastic way. He chuckles again, softly. “I love you too.”

“Good,” she says, and flattens his hair, absent-mindedly. “Talk to CJ and Will, then.”

“I- I will. Eventually.”

“Good,” she says, smiling at him, almost involuntarily, as she backs out the door. “Bye, Toby. Don’t be a stranger.”

“I’ll do my best,” he says, and closes the door behind her.

* * *

“Hey,” says Will, walking in through her wall. Andy looks up - she’s at home, doing her reading, as she does almost every evening, and he’s a welcome, if expected, distraction.

“Hi,” she says, looking back to her papers, and feeling the familiar weight of his hand on her head as he leans over her shoulder. “Education?”

“Yeah, well,” she says, “Your people are pushing for us to get things done before you leave, which means I actually have to do my job.”

“Imagine that,” says Will. She twists around in time to catch his grin.

She loves this routine that they have, especially now that CJ is on blockers until midnight almost daily and Toby’s still barely poked his head out of his treasonous shell. Every evening, after the full lid is called, Will locks himself in his office and visits her. They discuss politics, personal things, how the other half of their cluster is holding up - and so on.

Andy wasn’t sure how to feel about him when he’d first bonded with Toby. The White House had hired him to help with the State of the Union on nothing but the strength of Sam Seaborn’s word, at first, and he’d been so desperate to get out of Washington that she couldn’t help but dislike him.

Now, though, she thinks of him as a little brother. Their relationship is so _easy_ that she can’t help but love being around him, especially when she thinks about the complications of Toby and how CJ’s falling apart while no one can do anything to help her.

Sometimes she thinks that’s the worst part of what Toby did - in getting himself fired, he left CJ alone in the West Wing, without someone she could have a close and unsuspicious relationship with. The press still hasn’t caught on to their cluster, but CJ and Will suddenly becoming bosom friends wouldn’t leave much doubt.

“I don’t mind it too much,” she says. “I mean, these two are going to need real schooling pretty soon.” She waves in the vague direction of the twins’ room.

Will nods. “They’re growing like weeds.”

Andy laughs. “Yes, they are. Do you want to see them?”

“Yeah,” he says. She gets up, glancing behind her to make sure he follows, and makes her way to their bedroom, where they’re constructing some sort of lego monstrosity.

“We hit the jackpot in the kids department,” she says, in the psycellium, so they aren’t interrupted. “I mean, they’re such good kids.”

“Yeah,” says Will, watching Molly hold a structure steady so her brother can attach something underneath its base. Will’s got a sort of sad look, as if he’s looking at something he doesn’t think he can ever have.

Andy wouldn’t be so sure - Kate Harper seems to be working out very well for him. Also, her children are the children of her cluster, as far as she’s concerned.

“Do you want to say hello to them?” she asks.

Will blinks at her. “I thought that was an old wives’ tale.”

“I’ve seen it happen,” she says. “They can always tell when CJ’s around. Toby’s more hit-and-miss, ironically, but I think that’s because he’s around more often.”

There’s an old myth that children can sense the presence of their parents’ clustermates, and even tell what they’re saying if the weather’s good. From what Andy’s read, it only really works when the parents are from the same cluster, but it still _works._ It’s a godsend for her and Toby, often, especially now that he can’t be seen coming and going from her house. Even though he pretends to not believe it works.

“Yeah- yeah, of course I’d like to try,” says Will. “Do they even know who I am, though?”

Andy shoots him a look. “Do you think we haven’t told them about you?”

“I mean...” he says. At her renewed glare, he backs away slightly, but holds his ground. “I’ve never even met them!”

“You’re my clustermate, Will, mine and Toby’s, even if the public has no idea. Of course I’d tell them about you. Now go.”

She gives him a slight push, and he stumbles into the room. At first, he tries to avoid the numerous legos dotting the carpet, but eventually he realizes that he’s only there psychically, making his efforts pointless. She appreciates his struggle, but still has to stifle a giggle at the absurdity of it.

It’s Huck who notices first. It’s always him who feels their presence first. Andy’s not sure if it’s because he’s somehow more sensitive or because he’s more innocent, but she loves it about him dearly.

“Mama?” he says, looking up. Molly feels it a second later. Always the rasher one, she stands up completely. “Is that CJ?”

“No,” answers Huck. “It’s not. Is it- it’s not Papa, either.”

“No,” says Andy. “It’s Will.”

She and CJ had spent a few months considering what the kids were going to call her. Auntie CJ would’ve been the least suspicious, considering that she and CJ are friends in the public eye, but it felt too distant. Andy would’ve prefered Mama CJ, all things considered, but it isn’t a perfect world and she can’t always get what she wants. Instead, her children call CJ by the same name that everyone else uses. She figures they can do the same for Will, considering that they haven’t even physically met him yet.

“Hey,” says Will, kneeling on the floor. Standing, Molly is a handful of inches taller than him, and Andy has a sudden desire for a camera that captures the psychic space as well as physical. Her daughter seems to sense where he is, reaching forward and carefully leaving her hand around where his shoulder is.

“Hi, Will,” she says. Huck crowds up behind her - always relying on his sister’s protection - but seems to see as much as she does. “Hi, Will!”

“It’s so nice to meet you guys,” says Will, smiling wide. He shoots Andy a look - _I can’t believe this is working!,_ or something similar. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

“We’ve heard about you too!” says Molly. “You worked with Papa.”

“I did,” says Will, nodding. “Wow, you guys are getting so big.”

“Everyone says that,” says Huck, wrinkling his nose. Will smiles at them, reaching up to adjust his glasses. “Well, it’s true.”

Standing in the doorway, Andy has to blink hard against the sudden appearance of tears. Arms snake around her waist, and she sighs, leaning back into CJ’s chest.

“Hi,” she says.

“Hello,” says CJ. “I’m getting out before 9 pm. It’s a miracle.”

“Miracle of miracles,” echoes Andy, absently. “He’s good with them, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” says CJ, shifting her attention to where Will is asking the twins about their newest creation. “I always knew he would be.”

“Yeah,” says Andy.

* * *

“Hey, Will, what did you want me to do with this memo?”

Carol walks in holding a paper he’d left on her desk five minutes ago. He sighs and gestures her over. It’s a slow news day, or at least it will be until he announces the administration’s plans to go stump for Santos, meaning that the entire Communications department has nothing to do until then except take turns bothering each other.

Somewhere in another part of the city, Toby flickers into his awareness. Will freezes, then turns to Carol. “I need you to get approval from everyone that needs to approve that. Good? Awesome. I need my office.”

“Okay,” says Carol, looking at him strangely. He’s too preoccupied to really notice it, though. “I’ll go.”

As soon as she’s out the door, Will closes it and locks it behind her. He turns around, standing in Toby’s kitchen. Toby himself is sitting at his table, looking like he’s expecting him.

“Slow news day?” asks Toby, folding up his newspaper and throwing it on the table in front of him. He gestures at the chair across from him. “I was expecting to wait at least an hour.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll have an announcement later,” says Will. He doesn’t sit down. “Wish I could tell you, but I don’t know that you won’t go running to the press.”

It’s a low blow, and they both feel it. Will knows how this is going to go: Toby will stiffen, and say something cutting about checking out halfway through the fourth quarter or supporting the enemy, and Will will leave, and they’ll be back where they started.

“That’s fair,” says Toby, glancing away, then looking back.

Will no longer knows how this is going to go.

“Sit down,” says Toby, gesturing at the chair again. “I’ve made some soup, but, y’know-”

“Yeah,” says Will, not looking away from him, even as Toby turns away to rummage through the fridge. “Right.”

“You don’t mind if I eat, do you?” asks Toby, sitting down with a covered bowl. He pulls off the top, and it _does_ smell excellent. Will regrets - not for the first time - that he can’t eat anything in psychic space.

“No, please, go ahead,” he says, belatedly. Toby, who’s been waiting for him to make up his mind, immediately takes a spoonful.

“Is this- is this what you do all day? Cook?”

“More or less,” says Toby. “I’ve been cooking a lot more, yeah, trying to figure out old family recipes. My grandfather used to make this for me and my brother when we were kids.”

“Oh,” says Will. He gets nervous when Toby starts to talk about his brother: Will’s not the best at emotional stuff, especially not with Toby, who in all other cases eschews it. Toby doesn’t seem to be upset, though.

“I read a lot, now. Law journals, articles, old speeches. Did you know there’s a typo in the Constitution?”

“There’s- what?”

“Yeah,” says Toby. “I called a lady at the National Archive to verify.” He doesn’t seem very interested in the story, though, because he stops there, taking another spoonful of his soup.

Will sits down, finally, and looks down at his hands. He takes a deep breath, looks up, reconsiders, and looks down again.

“What-” he says. “What am I doing here, Toby?”

Toby glances at him, then goes back to getting the last dregs of his soup. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” says Will, “you’ve been on blockers since- since, you know.”

“Since I was fired?”

“Yeah,” he says. “You’ve been avoiding me for years, now, even before that. What changed?”

Toby puts down his bowl. He’s carefully watching the table in front of him. “I... I had a conversation with Andy.”

“You’ve had quite a few of those over the years, I think.”

“She- she brought to my attention. I don’t- I don’t have a lot of people in this world. Not anymore. The president, Josh, even Sam- I can’t push you away, Will. You’re part of me.”

“Darn right I am,” says Will. He can’t quite hide how surprised he is, though.

Toby smiles, faintly, still looking at the table. He traces a line that looks like it was carved by inadvertent toddler hands. “And I can’t keep pushing everyone away, especially not now. It’s not- it’s not _healthy.”_

“That sounds like something CJ would say.”

“Yeah,” says Toby.

This is the most friendly conversation he’s had with Toby in _years,_ and the first one where Toby’s acknowledged how important Will is to him. He feels flattered, sure, and he feels the same way, of course, but it’s- it’s weird. They don’t discuss their feelings with each other very much. Toby’s always struck Will as a very stoic person, besides.

“Thank- thank you,” says Will. “I- uh- I love you too, Toby. I know you didn’t say that, but I do.”

“Thank you,” says Toby. Both of them are refusing to meet each other’s eyes.

“And- um- I’m glad you decided to reach out, Toby,” Will says. “I want us to be friends again.”

“Me too.”

They lapse into silence, mostly comfortable - definitely not antagonistic, as it’d been for so long before - but also _very_ awkward.

Will laughs, suddenly. “We’re two _very good_ speechwriters and we’re speechless.”

Toby chuckles, smiling at him. “We’ll get it back,” he says. “If I stay out of prison.”

“Pah!” says Will, waving his hand. “We’ll get you out. Kate and CJ can plan an incursion.”

“I’m saved,” says Toby, smiling. Will smiles at him, too, and thinks that maybe they can make it out of this whole.

**Author's Note:**

> if y'all follow me [on tumblr](https://smallblueandloud.tumblr.com), you know i am OBSESSED with this 'verse. therefore! i am open to prompts!! all the time, any time, about ANYONE'S cluster, but especially these four! headcanons, ficlets, just general information... i'm here, y'all. send me an ask over on tumblr if you'd like and check out the ['verse tag](https://smallblueandloud.tumblr.com/tagged/tww-sense8-au) for anything i've already written!
> 
> i have a... nebulous idea of the mix of relationships in this cluster (at least between cj, toby, and andy). if y'all think i should change my tagging for them in any way, PLEASE let me know! i'm up for discussion! i'm ALSO up for talking about them at _all times_. seriously. i love this show and these people so much.
> 
> also, i uh. my name for this cluster is 'the stupidly noble cluster', so uh, do with that what you will. thanks for reading <3


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